Reinventing the World
by do-the-unthinkable
Summary: When Kise had gone to bed last night, he hadn't had a son, and by the time Aomine had turned up at his door today at noon, he did. [Not M-Preg] Three-shot. AU-ish. AoKise. Fluff. More Inside Review! Final Chapter Up!
1. I

**Title: Reinventing the World **

**Author's Note**: Okay guys, I'm starting a new story! This is dedicated to **Dropchocolate**. They were the first(and only) person to leave a review to my first ever KnB one-shot _Four Seasons_ and I really appreciate it! I hope they like this! I love to treat my first reviewers really special, you know? Anyway. This is my second ever KnB fic and I hope you guys enjoy it. Well, Okay, go on and read. More from me later!

⇒_**Please make sure you heed the bolded font. Especially the are there for a reason.**_

**Pairing**: Aomine/Kise

**Rating**: T/PG-13

**Warnings**: AU-ish, OoC, Fluff; This is _not_ m-preg.

**Summary**: When Kise had gone to bed last night, he hadn't had a son, and by the time Aomine had turned up at his door today at noon, he did.

* * *

**Disclaimer**:

Kuroko no Basuke does not belong to me. All rights belong to Fujimaki-sensei.

* * *

When Ryouta Kise didn't answer his door, even after the second, third, fourth time that Daiki Aomine knocked, he was pretty sure he was well within his rights to get grumpy. Kise had a meeting at 1 o'clock which was only an hour away and in the same direction as his practice, and while Kise didn't mind breezing into those sorts of things a couple of minutes late, the thought of being late to practice made Aomine antsy.

After rapping on the door a couple more times proved fruitless, he started fiddling about in his pocket for his phone so he could send Kise a ireful mail asking if he'd forgotten that he was meant to be driving Aomine to the studio today. He was in the middle of asking him if he'd gone out, and if he could get back quick please, because they were going to be late, when Kise finally pushed the door open and poked his head out.

His face was pale, drawn, and his forehead was creased. Aomine was pretty sure he'd never seen him look this harrowed before, not even back when he'd been filming for three commercials a week and running on two hours of sleep. Being late to their meeting was suddenly the last thing on his mind.

"Aomine."

Kise's voice sounded the same way he looked; like a rubber band pulled too tight and ready to snap. There was something desperate about it apart from the strange lack of _-chii_, almost like a note of panic, which made Aomine worry because that meant there had to be something terribly wrong and he'd was never the one Kise went to when he had problems; they were friends in the sense that they got along, worked together well and understood each other, but Aomine wasn't who Kise turned to when he needed advice or help – not with anything beyond his opinion on music and basketball anyway, and Aomine highly doubted the worry lines carved into his forehead were because of misbehaving routine plans.

"I, uh." He waved his hand, gesturing out into the hall. "Are you ready to go?"

It was a stupid question, and he knew it. Kise was dressed in wrinkled pyjama pants with a baggy t-shirt over the top, and his hair had yet to be brushed. He didn't look remotely presentable. There was no way he was even considering going out like that.  
Kise stared at him with something frighteningly close to despair in his eyes. He took a deep breath, then let it out slow, but it didn't look like it relieved any of his tension.

"I'm not ready. I'm just. I'm not ready."

The way he said it left Aomine less worried about whether he'd be able to help Kise with his problem and more worried about what his problem _was_, because it didn't sound like they were talking about the same thing anymore.  
Aomine was no good at handling serious situations level-headedly, but his concern swelled, overcoming his usually brash nature, and he gently placed a hand on Kise's shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

He got his answer a moment later, but it wasn't from Kise's mouth.  
A scream came from inside the apartment, a wailing, grating cry, and Kise's face grew paler still. He ushered Aomine inside, telling him to shut the door behind him, and Aomine followed, standing bewildered in the entrance as Kise disappeared into the depths of his apartment.

He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing until Kise reappeared, holding a tiny, screaming person in his arms and looking on the verge of tears himself.

"Baby?" Aomine's voice came out high-pitched and perplexed. "But... why? How?"

Kise didn't answer; probably didn't even hear the question. He was trying in vain to calm the child, bouncing it gently, rocking it back and forth, but to no avail. Aomine had never seen him look this lost, this overwhelmed before. Even when he'd been utterly miserable in Kaijou when their rivarly began; even when their friendship had been on the rocks, Kise hadn't looked quite this much like the world was ending.

"I don't know. I don't know what he wants, Aominecchi." Kise was trying to remain calm, he could tell, but it was clear that his nerves were fraying and he was cracking around the edges. "He's not hungry, he doesn't need changing, he's not… he wants his mother. He wants his mother, Aominecchi, I can't. Aominecchi, I _can't_."

"Why is he here?"

Aomine wished he was someone else, someone who would say the right thing and not ask stupid stuff that didn't need to be asked. Midorima was smart, he'd know how to fix everything. Or Riko; one of her friends had had two, so she knew what to do with babies. Even Kuroko or Atsushi, they were both calmer than him, and Kuroko was pretty good with children. They'd all be able to do something more for Kise than stand here, asking useless questions.

"Gone," Kise said in a small voice. "She's gone."

Aomine swallowed, didn't know what to say. He watched Kise put the baby over his shoulder and slowly rock from side to side, which seemed to calm him, even if it did nothing for the child.

"His head," Aomine said suddenly, and Kise looked at him, confused and tired. "Babies... their heads are heavy. You need to support them."

"Oh." Kise didn't look like he really understood, but he did as Aomine suggested, and held the baby's head steady as he kept rocking.

It took a long time, but the child began to go limp in Kise's arms and his eyelids drooped, cries slowly dwindling to nothing. Kise looked relieved, but also like he was a breath away from fainting.

"Maybe you can put him down to sleep?" Aomine suggested, but Kise shook his head.

"Don't want to risk it." He kept rocking, and Aomine suddenly had an vision of Kise collapsing like an unstable block tower. He looked like nothing but sheer will was holding him up.

"Let's sit down then?" He tried.

Kise seemed hesitant, but eventually agreed. He sat on the couch with Aomine, still cradling the baby against his shoulder.

"Why is he here? How long?" Aomine asked once they were settled. He kept his voice quiet, terrified of waking the infant after all the work it had taken to put him to sleep.

"I don't know. I don't know," Kise said, squeezing his eyes shut as though trying to block everything out. "She... his mother. Came by this morning and now she's left and he misses her. He just cries, Aominecchi. Sleeps or cries."

Aomine felt like he was bombarding Kise with too many questions, but he wasn't getting the answers he wanted and so he couldn't help but keep asking.

"Whose is he?" He asked softly, examining the plump arms and legs, so still and tiny against Kise's chest.

Kise looked at the floor, something akin to shame in his eyes.

"He's mine."

Aomine felt like he'd been hit in the stomach with a baseball bat and had all the wind knocked out of him. It was like the mental equivalent of being hit by a truck. He couldn't believe it.

"Yours?"

Kise nodded, and Aomine swallowed. Despite the gravity of the situation, he felt a bit of hurt mixed in with the shock. "You never told us. Told me."

Kise leant his head back against the couch, stared up at the ceiling with glazed eyes and held the baby – his _son_ – a little closer.

"I didn't know either," he whispered, and Aomine suddenly understood a whole lot better, what had happened and how Kise must be feeling.

It was one thing for your lover to tell you she was pregnant, to watch her belly swell over the weeks, to go shopping together for toys and cribs, to think of baby names. It was quite another to have a girl turn up at your door after months of no contact and shove a small person made up of half your DNA into your arms.

"Who was she?" He asked, resting a hand on Kise's infant-free shoulder, hoping it would at least provide him some comfort.

It seemed to work, because Kise leant into the touch like it was a lifeline, slumped and sighed.

"I don't know. A girl. Some girl. Yuna-chan." He sounded confused, a little dazed. "It was a one-night stand. We were drunk, I wasn't careful..." He trailed off.

Aomine didn't say anything. He'd never had a one-night stand before, didn't really know that Kise had either. They didn't talk about things like that; he'd met a few of Kise's girlfriends before, heard about a couple of his boyfriends once Kise had confessed to having 'some of _those_ tendencies', but they'd never gone deeper than that. They didn't talk about sex. Aomine had never wanted to.

"That was a year ago. Almost a year ago." Kise continued. "He's nearly three months old, Aominecchi. I've been a … he's been alive for three months and I didn't even know."

Three whole months. Aomine was trying, but he still couldn't think of Kise as a father. But then again, Kise probably couldn't yet either. When he'd gone to bed last night, he hadn't had a son, and by the time Aomine had turned up at his door today at noon, he did. It didn't seem real; didn't seem like it _could_ be real.

He almost asked Kise what he was going to do, but decided at the last second that that wouldn't be a good idea. Kise didn't look like he knew, and asking him could just make him panic.

"Do you have baby things?" He asked instead, and Kise bobbed his head once in a sort of half-nod.

"She left me some stuff. Diapers and baby formula. Clothes. A couple of toys."

Aomine licked his lips and nodded, more forcefully than Kise had, as though to add conviction to his sentence.

"Then he'll be okay," he assured him, but there was something in Kise's usually confident eyes that said he didn't believe it.

* * *

He wasn't going to give the baby up. Kise made this utterly clear to Aomine the moment the conversation showed the barest hints of turning towards work and paparazzi and maybe adoption.  
It confused Aomine, because Kise was obviously terrified; terrified and unprepared, and at odds with the world. The idol world definitely wouldn't support it – one model with a pinch of baby, the perfect recipe for a scandal – and his family probably wouldn't be thrilled by the news either. His job would make it near impossible.  
But Kise had always been the type to think with his heart rather than his head, and it was something Aomine couldn't quite help but like about him. Kise felt things strongly.

"She says she tried."

He told Aomine about the mother – "Yuna-chan" – once they'd gotten a bit of food and water into him (Aomine had had to give him quite a bit of help with it so he could keep holding his son) and he'd calmed down considerably.

"She tried for the last three months, but it got too much for her. And now she's given him to me. She didn't want a baby."

"Well. I guess that makes sense," Aomine said uncertainly, but Kise's face folded into a dark scowl.

"I think it's disgusting. Abandoning your child like that." He lifted his head and set his jaw, and it was the most confident he'd looked all day. "I would have supported her. I would have married her if she'd asked."

He felt a bit selfish for being glad that Kise wasn't going to be marrying anyone, but Aomine just wasn't ready for that yet. No matter what they said in interviews, he'd had an idea in his head that no one in the Generation of Miracles was going to marry or have children for the next five, maybe even ten years. Kise especially, he'd thought, wouldn't be ready for that; he was still too much of a child himself. And now he was sitting across from Aomine, holding one.

"I'm not going to be like her, Aominecchi," Kise said, stroking the wispy hair atop the baby's head. "One parent already left him, and I'm not going to too. This is my responsibility."

Aomine imagined all the times Kise has wiggled out of paying for lunch, all the times he'd managed to shift his duties onto someone else. But then he realised that this was a very different kind of responsibility, tied up with morals, with a sense of right and wrong and Kise's constant drive to be the best person he could. And suddenly, the idea of him being responsible didn't seem so strange anymore.

"If you need help, you can count on me," Aomine found himself saying before he could stop to think about it.

He wasn't sure he could really offer any help, but when Kise smiled at him, wide, genuine and maybe even a little grateful, Aomine was glad he'd said it. He was glad Kise knew he wasn't alone.

* * *

Kise's cellphone went off while they were sitting on the couch, and Aomine took the phone and propelled himself away and into the kitchen for fear of the loud ringtone waking the baby. He answered in a hushed voice to find Kise's manager on the other end of the line, and he didn't sound too happy. After the first few angry sentences, Aomine finally realised that it was almost 2 o'clock and they were supposed to have been at the studio an hour ago. He made up a story, saying that Kise couldn't make it in today because he had a bad fever and that Aomine had been with him in his apartment all morning, taking care of him. He wasn't _that_ good at lying, especially not on his feet, but somehow saved himself when he managed to mix the words 'doctor' and 'hospital' together without stuttering and tripping over the sentence. Kise's manager bought it, assuming he was just being the usual self, and told him to take good care of Kise and that they'd reschedule later.

Aomine was pleased to find the baby still asleep upon his return, and Kise seemed to have gathered the courage to shift him slightly, holding him so he could study his face and the rise and fall of his tiny chest. Aomine watched the two of them, looking for similarities, and thought that maybe he could see the little button nose developing into the same smooth slope and thin bridge as Kise's. He wondered whose eyes the baby had. Absentmindedly hoped it was his father's, and then suddenly realised that he didn't know the child's name.

"What did she call him?" He asked, leaning in a little closer but still making sure not to touch.

"Sora."

Aomine nodded. Sora, like the sky. It was one of the most popular boys' names last year, and that alone told him some more about what kind of person this Yuna-chan was. He liked it though, thought she could have chosen a worse name for Kise's son. It made him think of endless sheets of sprawling blue, of soaring birds, of freedom, and if the boy grew up to be anything like his father, Aomine knew his name would suit him.

"It's nice," he said, and Kise smiled vaguely, carefully hefted Sora into a more comfortable position in his arms.

"Yeah. It is."

* * *

Kise realised half an hour later that he had no crib for the baby and was all geared up to go out and get one, but Aomine gently suggested otherwise.

"You can't take him with you. He has no car seat."

Kise stopped in his tracks and looked at Aomine thoughtfully. For a horrible second, he thought that Kise was going to ask him to stay here with the baby while he went out.

"Could you go and buy it for me?" He asked instead, and Aomine caught a hint of the normal, childless Kise he'd known in the past in his sweet, wheedling tone.

He felt relieved to hear it for reasons he couldn't explain, and it was almost enough to make him say yes.  
Almost, but not quite.

"I don't want to end up in the tabloids, Kise. That would be troublesome."

Kise looked a bit exasperated, which Aomine didn't think was fair – the point was valid, after all – but he overlooked it because Kise was under a lot of stress.

"You could probably get away with it, though. You're practically a scandal virgin."

Aomine was a little offended and felt his bottom lip beginning to jut into a pout. "Just use the internet. It's way more anonymous."

Kise looked at him blankly for a second, then laughed softly, shaking his head.

"I should've thought of that. My laptop's in my room. You'll have to get it for me."

Aomine considered reprimanding him for not saying please, but he knew Kise too well to take offense and ignored his lack of manners in favour of going to get the computer.

They spent the next half hour clicking through baby furniture sites – or rather, Aomine did all the clicking and searching while Kise sat back holding Sora and directed him – trying to find the perfect black baby crib and set of black and white panda bear print bedding. It took another thirty minutes to find it all from somewhere that promised on-the-day delivery, but sometime just before four o'clock, Aomine was finally typing in Kise's credit card details and address into the delivery form. He felt mentally exhausted, but Kise seemed a little happier and Aomine figured that was what mattered.

Sora woke up again after it had all been ordered, once Kise and Aomine were both sitting down again. He blinked sleepily, looking dozy for a few moments before taking a deep breath and starting to scream. Aomine felt himself tense up, expecting the weary, despairing expression to make its way back onto Kise's face, but when he looked, there was nothing but determination. He watched in fascination as Kise went about changing and feeding Sora, relieved when he quietened down once he had the teat of his bottle in his mouth. Kise looked up to catch Aomine's eyes, grinning in triumph, and Aomine smiled back, thinking that maybe Kise would get through this after all. Little steps, he told himself. Little steps.

* * *

It took about a week, but Sora finally stopped fussing so much in the absence of his mother, latching onto Kise as his new parent figure instead. Kise had started to look gaunt, with dark bags under his eyes that would've taken a metric ton of makeup to cover if he had actually been going to work. The story was that he was firmly ensconced in bed with a _really high fever_ and _no_, it hadn't let up yet, sorry. Only Aomine knew the truth. They'd have to admit it to management soon, and they both knew it, because in his line of work you weren't sick for more than a day at a time, let alone a week. Two was out of the question.

As a result of being the only one of Kise's friends privy to his secret, Aomine found himself spending a lot of time at his apartment, keeping him company and keeping his spirits up.  
He was doing a lot for Kise, and quite willingly, but drew the line at holding Sora himself. Admittedly, it wasn't because he didn't want to, it was just… scary. He wasn't sure about the finer points of how to hold a baby, and it hadn't gone too well when he'd tried it on the first day.

The delivery guy had turned up at Kise's apartment with the crib and Kise had handed his grizzling son over to Aomine for a moment so he could help the man get the crib where he wanted it. By the time Kise was ready to take his baby back, Sora was screaming at the top of his lungs and Aomine was pale faced and terrified that he'd managed to somehow irreversibly damage Kise's child.

Since then, he'd lost any confidence he might have had, and refused to touch the baby again. Fortunately, Kise didn't push him to do it, though whether this was because he understood or just a coincidence, Aomine didn't know. Whatever the reason, he wouldn't hold Sora for fear that all he'd do was cry until Aomine put him down, and Kise didn't make him try.

Watching him was a whole different story. Kise would sometimes put Sora on his back on a rug while he took care of some personal business, and Aomine would keep an eye him. It was so interesting to sit there and watch as the baby discovered his own hands, staring intently at his own tiny fist as he caught sight of it sailing past his face. He seemed to find his hands far more interesting than anything Aomine nudged in his direction to see if he'd play with it; hands and other people's faces, it appeared, were much more enticing than toys.

Kise did a bit of looking up about babies and developmental stages on the internet, and was proud to tell Aomine that Sora was completely normal as far as growing up went. He'd been worried about Sora's habit of waking up at 2:30 every night wanting to feed, he said, but after .jp assured him this was perfectly normal, he felt much happier. Aomine thought that Kise still looked exhausted, but supposed that was normal too. Besides, if things were going well, he could only be happy about it.

A couple of days into the second week, however, it was time for Kise to go back to work. At first he'd tried to talk Aomine into coordinating their schedules so he could take care of Sora while Kise was at work, but Aomine had quickly shot that down.

"He needs you," he'd told him flatly, leaving out the part about how he was too scared to take care of a child on his own. "And you can't keep it secret forever. You've got to talk to management."

It was rare that Kise listened to what Aomine said when he was dead set against an idea, but in the end, it was obvious that Aomine was right and no amount of wishing was going to change that. On the day he arranged his meeting with the executives, Aomine spent his time unable to focus on the job and without much of an appetite when he went home for dinner.  
His heart seized up every time his phone went, and when Kise finally called, it was all he could do to force himself not to faint and to press the accept call key instead.

"I'm keeping him," Kise's voice came from over the line, and Aomine sagged with relief, sinking onto his bed. "They don't like it _at all_ but I think they know it's either let me keep him, or fire me, and my company can't really stand to lose another member whose as popular as I am."

I couldn't either, Aomine thought to himself, or he'd be on his own without Kise, and he didn't like the idea of that.

"They're not that enthusiastic about the option of a fill-in either, so I get to keep my son and my job," Kise continued. "But we're arranging it so I can keep him super secret. I can't be seen with him anywhere public, so I can't take the train or park my car on the street. I'm going to be like a Hikikomori with a job."

Aomine laughed under his breath, trying to quell the jolt he always felt whenever Kise said 'my son'. Even after a week and a half, it still sounded so weird, so unreal.

"Also," Kise's tone became light and teasing, "the parka of yours you were looking for is over here. Amongst other things. If you're not careful, you're going to end up with a whole wardrobe at my apartment."

Aomine sighed. "That's because I've been spending more time there helping you than I have at my house. My parents already think I'm having an affair with someone."

Kise's boisterous laugh rang out from the receiver. "A AoKise affair. How scandalous. We already have a baby, even. Sounds like something out of a badly-written fanfiction or something."

Aomine laughed along with him and was glad they were talking over the phone so Kise couldn't see the way his cheeks had heated up.

* * *

By the start of Kise's third week with Sora, the baby had well and truly begun to think of Kise as his main caregiver. It felt like it had been the longest fifteen days of Aomine's life, watching Kise get through something so significant when barely anyone knew what had been going on.

"The fewer, the better," Kise told Aomine when he mentioned that no one from GoM knew, but most of the cast and crew of his agency did. "They'll find out the next time we work together."

Aomine thought it was a bit silly, but he couldn't help feeling special that he was the only one of them who'd found out so far. His large role in Sora and Kise's lives made him feel even more so, and although Kise was starting to need him around less and less for moral support, Aomine didn't cut down the time he spent there. If anything, he was over more often, which didn't help with his parents' suspicions that he had someone special in his life, but Aomine figured it wasn't really a big deal.

It was just, Sora seemed to be doing new things every week that he couldn't do before, like batting the toys on his mobile, or rolling from his back to his stomach. It was so cool, and Aomine hated the idea of missing out on it. He liked seeing the way Kise beamed with pride whenever Sora got his hand-eye coordination right, or how he absolutely glowed with joy whenever his baby smiled at him, as though each time proved that he was daddy now, and no longer a stranger. Kise didn't seem to mind the company either, telling Aomine seriously, "It's so hard being a single papa, but I think I'm pretty good at it."

He should've known from the way that Kise treated the kittens he took care of a year ago that he'd be a doting father, but when it was directed at an actual baby, instead of rolling his eyes Aomine found it rather heart-warming. He enjoyed being around during the evenings, listening to Kise's loud, dramatic readings from books, or his stupid fairytales about King Ryouta and Prince Sora and the five sometimes-kind-hearted dwarves who all happened to share names with Kise's teammates. He liked being there when Kise sung nursery rhymes or blew raspberries on Sora's stomach, making him squeal with glee.

Kise seemed quite happy for him to be over as well. He didn't like the idea of leaving Sora on his lonesome, even for the short time it took to take the garbage out, but having Aomine over meant he could make the five minute trip to the convenience store and replenish necessities.  
It was one such time, just after Kise had put Sora down for a nap, that he told Aomine he was just going to dash out to get some food.

"Okay." Aomine wasn't worried, since they'd done it a couple of times before, and Sora had only just dozed off moments ago. He usually slept for a good half hour during his daytime naps, and woke up again long after Kise came back.

Unfortunately for Aomine, it didn't go that way this time. No more than six minutes after Kise had left the building, the sound of crying penetrated through the door of Kise's room into the living room where Aomine was. His first response was to panic and freeze to the spot. The baby was crying, and Kise wasn't coming back for a while and Aomine didn't know what to do. It took him a full two minutes to get up the courage to approach the room, almost as though there was a ferocious beast waiting there instead of a wailing three-month-old baby.

Sora's little face was very pink and streaked with tears, and he didn't pay Aomine the blindest bit of attention as he bent over the crib, looking down at him with a puckered brow and worried eyes.  
Maybe if he touched him he'd calm down a bit, Aomine thought, placing a hand on Sora's little chest and giving him a pat. Sora didn't seem to notice, his cries not dwindling in the slightest. Aomine hoped he didn't need feeding. Or changing. He cared about Kise a lot, but there were some things he just wasn't willing to do for him.

When Sora kept crying, Aomine figured that he may as well just pick him up. After all, no one was here to see if he failed, and he'd feel guilty if he just left Kise's kid crying in his crib. Besides, if he was going to cry whether Aomine was holding him or not, it'd be better if he tried at least.  
He slid his hands underneath Sora's little body and lifted him from his bed, holding him so his head was supported in the crook of his arm.

"Hello!" Aomine said brightly, in a high-pitched voice that sounded stupid even to him. "You can stop crying now… please."

He tried smiling, and Sora stared up into his face, took a deep breath and blinked. Then he smiled back. Aomine was so surprised that he almost dropped him. Luckily for him, he didn't, and a feeling of wonder washed over him.

"Do you like me now?" He asked, and the fake smile he'd plastered to his face curved into something genuine. "I've gotcha, so don't worry. Daddy will be home soon!"

Sora kept smiling and gurgled, and Aomine felt a laugh bubble up inside him. He was still cooing and talking to the baby in a ridiculous voice when he heard the door creak behind him, turning to look at Kise with a deer caught in the headlights expression.

"He, uh. Was crying," Aomine said, as though he needed to explain why he was holding Kise's child. When Kise didn't say anything, Aomine took a step closer and awkwardly held Sora out to him. "Um… here?"

The soft look on Kise's face as he took Sora from him gave Aomine knots in his stomach that didn't untie until he left later that evening.

* * *

**A/N:** So? How was that for a first chapter? Don't scold me, I haven't really been following KnB for a long time.; In fact, I'm relatively new so, its sort of AU-ish. Kind of. And, I'm sure things are going to be OoC so, please realize this. I also stated that in the beginning, right? Anyway, did I mention that this is a **chapter fic**? Well, now you know! Leave me some nice encouraging reviews, okay? The next update will be posted on my profile so if you ever get curious to when the next update will occur—feel free to check there! Thanks for reading!

**Read, Review and Move On!**


	2. II

**Title: Reinventing the World **

**Author's Note**:Well, It seems that people are actually reading my story. I'm glad! What am I stalling for? Go on and read. More from me at the end!

⇒_**Please make sure you heed the bolded font. Especially the are there for a reason.**_

**Pairing**: Aomine/Kise

**Rating**: T/PG-13

**Warnings**: AU-ish, OoC, Fluff; This is _not_ m-preg.

**Summary**: When Kise had gone to bed last night, he hadn't had a son, and by the time Aomine had turned up at his door today at noon, he did.

* * *

**Disclaimer**:

Kuroko no Basuke does not belong to me. All rights belong to Fujimaki-sensei.

* * *

It was sort of like an epiphany for Aomine. Now that he realised he _could_ hold Sora without him crying, that Sora actually liked Aomine enough to share a smile with him, he wanted to do it all the time. He actively joined in when Kise played games with his son instead of watching from a distance, or he'd let Kise hand Sora to him when he needed free hands instead of putting him down on the rug. He never thought he'd get so involved with a friend's baby, but figured this was a special case. It was Kise, after all.

The rest of their friends' introduction to the baby was a little dramatic, if only because Kise was his usual thoughtless self and didn't think to warn any of them about Sora before he turned up at a group practice holding him.  
At first, the others thought that he was just baby sitting his neighbor's child, or that the baby would be a cute mascot for today. It wasn't until a few minutes in that Midorima, who had been talking quietly with Kise until that moment, shrieked, "He's _yours_?!" at the top of his lungs that the truth got out.

Atsushi, Kagami, and Kuroko were quiet about it, but it was clear from the looks on their faces that they were shocked. Midorima called Kise by about every variation of the word 'stupid' that he could come up with before a frown from Kuroko and a well-timed comment from Atsushi about how Kise was probably already aware of the gravity of the situation shut him up.  
Momoi just stared for the longest time, hands over her mouth.

It took them a long time to finish their practice regimen between everyone's distraction, and Kise's frequent trips over to Sora to get him to quiet down. Atsushi and Kuroko had to leave pretty quickly for other appointments after, but Aomine saw the two of them talk to Kise separately before they left, and from the smile on his face, it seemed like what they said must have been pretty encouraging.

The others that stayed behind stuck around. Midorima hung back, chatting with the Kagami, but Momoi finally got to approach Sora for the first time, looking at the baby with awe in her face.

"_Kise_…" She choked out, tears springing up in her eyes, and Aomine felt a little uncomfortable watching. It was strange to see Momoi so emotional over the whole thing when she hadn't been involved with it until now.

"Are you crying, Momo-chan?" Kise laughed, letting Momoi press her fingers to the baby's chubby cheeks.

"You're a _daddy_. You didn't tell me." Momoi was obviously trying not to sound accusatory, but the slight sadness in her tone was probably worse, and Kise immediately sobered up.

"I haven't been telling anyone," he assured her. "It's meant to be a secret, so I haven't been going out of my way…"

His words seemed to placate Momoi, but they just made Aomine feel funny. Up until now, it'd made him feel special that he was the only member of GoM who had a clue about Sora's existence. But now, he wondered, if it hadn't been for the circumstances in which he found out, would Kise have told him sooner? The idea that he probably wouldn't have been the first person on Kise's list to go to had he not literally turned up at Kise's door the first day Sora arrived, made him feel jealous and a little bit sick. He'd been there for so many firsts – the first time he'd rolled over, the first time he'd pushed himself up on his arms – and the thought that that could've gone to someone else, that he could've missed them, made him want to fall into a dark sulk.

For once, though, his bad mood didn't last for long. All it took was the news from Kise that Sora had stopped feeding at night and was actually sleeping through for five to six hours at a time, and he was as cheerful and proud as if it was his own son.

"It's so good to actually have a full night's sleep," Kise told him over dinner. Aomine had brought him something so he'd stop subsisting solely on cup noodles, and from the way Kise was chowing it down, it looked like he'd needed it. "It was okay when I could nap during the day, but I can't really do that anymore, so… I think this is a good step."

He beamed at Aomine, and Aomine's eyes crinkled as he smiled back.

Indeed, Kise started looking happier and healthier over the next week, no doubt the result of getting a substantial amount of shuteye for the first time in over a month. Sora's feeding pattern started to regularise as well, and it felt like there was nowhere to go from here but up.

Of course, the moment Aomine thought that, something just had to go wrong.  
It was hard to know how they managed to do it. Kise had been so careful since the very beginning, but someone eventually managed to get a shot of him with Sora, and soon it was all over the gossip magazines. Aomine unconsciously flew into a blind panic the second he found out, almost sure that Kise was going to return to the same anxious mess he'd been when Yuna had up and left Sora with him a month and a half before. The thought that this could mean the end of Kise's career if the executives so decided it barely crossed his mind; it was Kise's wellbeing that he had in the forefront of his mind, and Aomine was pretty sure he broke every traffic rule in Japan that it was possible to break on the drive over to Kise's apartment.

Kise had long since given Aomine a key to his place, telling him that since he spent almost half his time and left half his stuff there _anyway_, he may as well have one.  
Aomine let himself in expecting the worst, but all he found was Kise sitting placidly on the sofa, feeding Sora from his bottle.

"Hey, Aominecchi," he greeted him with a cheery smile, nothing out of the ordinary. "I thought you were having dinner at home tonight."

He must not know yet. That was the only explanation Aomine could think of as to why Kise would be so calm. He half wanted to pretend he didn't know anything, but Kise would definitely find out later, and there was no point prolonging the inevitable.

"Your… your picture," Aomine began, voice shaky. He swallowed thickly and straigened up, clearing his throat to start again. "It was…"

"In the tabloids? Yeah, I know. It sucks." Kise's reply was heartfelt, but still strangely flippant. "Momoi-san called me up herself, but there's nothing we can do about it. We can't make something up, since that'd make it worse when the truth got out. And I'm not willing to lie about Sora either."

Aomine stared, unable to think of anything to say. Eventually he just sat down, and Sora let out a loud noise soon after, leaning in Aomine's direction.

Kise grinned. "He wants you," he told him, handing the baby over.

Aomine's heart fluttered as he took Sora in his arms, and even though he knew things were going to be difficult for quite some time from here on out, with the three of them in Kise's apartment, squashed up on the couch together, he felt strangely at peace.

* * *

As Aomine had predicted, things got harder from then on. Kise had already said that, given his agency's history, suspending or firing him wasn't much of an option if they wanted to keep ahead of rival magazines. But that didn't mean the company didn't have other ways of punishing him. Aomine knew Kise had been expecting _something_ to happen ever since the pictures went public – he'd known there was no way he was getting out of it unscathed – he just hadn't been sure what. It turned out that, while he wasn't going to be suspended officially, they could still do it in everything but name.

It was the first time Aomine could remember Kise ever rejecting his company and comfort. He tried to tell himself that it was probably because he felt guilty – after all, all future plans for Kise to come and practice had been put on hold which affected Aomine too – but it still stung a bit. At the very least, in the brief time he'd spent with Kise before politely being told to take a hike, he knew that Kise wasn't blaming his misfortune on Sora. He'd been as gentle and caring with his son as ever while he explained to Aomine that, in no uncertain terms, he would prefer to be alone right now.

Still, as much as it bothered him, Aomine could understand. Kise was still being featured in the monthly magazines but outside of that, they'd taken everything from him. As well as the postponement of the release of an important interview, he'd also been pulled from the advertising campaigns he'd been a part of, replaced in an upcoming drama he was supposed to have a role in and, most heartbreakingly of all for him, he'd been told by the executives to quit his participation in GoM .

Compared to that, the rest of it was water of a duck's back. Aomine wasn't sure, but he thought that Kise had probably cried when he'd learnt that he was going to have to be taken off of the team. He'd said a few times that the rest of the members were like family to him. Now he was losing one family to keep another.  
Kise's parents had finally found out about their grandson as well, but Aomine wasn't yet sure what the reaction had been. He imagined they were probably more upset that he'd kept Sora a secret from them than they were over the fact that he'd been born in the first place. He'd thought that Kise should've told them from the start, but he got the feeling that Kise had wanted to prove that he could handle it on his own, rather than falling back on his mother and father for support as he would inevitably have done.

Aomine didn't see Kise or Sora for the next three days, and what would've once been a perfectly normal amount of time for him to go without seeing Kise suddenly felt excruciatingly long. It made him antsy. On top of that, it seemed like a million and one women were stepping forward, claiming to be the mother. Every time another one spoke up about it, Aomine couldn't help the feeling of resentment that began to brew in his stomach. Sora's real mother didn't even have anything to do with him anymore now that all the paperwork declaring Kise as the father was out of the way, and these women trying to lay claim to him just because they liked Kise's pretty face aggravated Aomine.

It wasn't a good time for either of them, but Kise eventually accepted what had happened. He called Aomine up when he was finally ready to see him again, seeming much calmer than the other day when he'd sent him out the door.

"I was ready to give up work for him completely," Kise said, back to sounding like his old self again, Aomine noted with some relief. "Having to lie low for a while is better than losing everything. And now I have more time to spend with Sora, making sure he gets all the attention he deserves. It works out, right?"

"Yeah. And you're still appearing in the magazines." Aomine didn't voice the thought he most wanted to, feeling strangely shy. It would sound strange to tell Kise, another guy, that he missed him. Him and his son.

Almost as if he could read his mind, Kise brought it up for him. "I think Sora misses you," he said, and Aomine bit his lip to hold back a grin. "We'd like it if you'd come see us sometime."

"Alright," Aomine replied casually, as though his heart wasn't soaring as he spoke. "I will soon."

He smiled absently up at the ceiling after he hung up, holding the phone to his chest.

* * *

It was good seeing Sora again. Aomine had been half convinced that he'd already be walking and talking and have completely forgotten him after the four days that had passed, but knew it was ridiculous. Babies didn't age overnight and their memories weren't _that_ short.

Sora seemed as delighted to see Aomine as Aomine was to see him, and he practically ignored Kise for the first hour to play with Sora and his toys.

"It's funny," Kise commented later, once they'd put the baby down to sleep. "I've gotten really used to you being around. It felt weird not seeing you."

"Oh, well. Yeah." Aomine couldn't meet his eyes and didn't know why. After all, he'd felt the same way, hadn't he? "Well... Sora-kun is still really young, so it's hard alone..."

Kise laughed quietly, keeping it down to avoid waking the baby. "Yeah. It's getting easier, though. I've become a good papa."

He sounded so happy praising himself, and it made Aomine chuckle before he remembered what he'd been meaning to ask Kise.

"Oh. How were your parents with the news?"

"Mm, good I guess. Mostly upset I'd kept it a secret." Aomine had guessed as much, but he didn't interrupt to say so. "Mom thinks that I should get married. She says it'd be good for Sora to have a mother."

Aomine felt his stomach twist, and he looked at Kise with alarm. He didn't like change, and he'd only just gotten used to the idea of thinking of Kise as a father. Seeing him get married was something Aomine wasn't ready for yet.

"You can't just... do that though. Can you?" He said lamely, feeling queasy at the thought.

Kise looked amused. "I wasn't going to. Love will find me when it's time, right?"

Aomine had never before been as grateful for Kise's romanticist attitude as he was at that moment.

* * *

Momoi was a good friend. She instinctively knew when people needed help, and she always knew what to do or say to get them through a rough patch. And Kise's current situation – losing so much of the work that was so important to him at the same time as struggling to be a good father – most certainly counted as a rough patch.  
Given this, Aomine supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that Momoi was suddenly falling over herself to come over and check up on Kise, make sure he was eating right, cook for him, and offering to take care of Sora so he could have some time alone.  
But surprise or not, Aomine couldn't help feeling annoyed. Kise had gotten this far without Momoi's help, so why would he need it now? Between himself and Aomine, Kise was just fine without another person butting in and throwing off their routine when Sora most needed a strict schedule to grow up healthy.

He tried to mention this to Kise, but Kise just laughed and shook his head, telling Aomine that Sora was still eating and sleeping at the usual times, so Momoi's extra help did no harm.

"Besides, I know what I'm doing now," Kise told him, sounding so proud of himself that Aomine didn't dare argue further.

Didn't mean he had to like it though; especially not when Momoi was _always_ there when he came over, playing with Sora or cuddled up on the couch with an arm around Kise while Kise held Sora in his lap, as though they were a family. It made Aomine feel like his insides were made of jelly, unsettled and wobbly as he tried and failed to fit himself into the picture.

Sora's excitement upon seeing him whenever he arrived largely made up for it, but when Aomine came over one evening to find Momoi there, playing with Sora and a toy that Sora and _Aomine_ always played with together, he couldn't help feeling cranky.

It didn't help when Kise greeted him with a blinding grin and said, "Aominecchi, just in time! Momoi-chan came over to make me dinner tonight and there should be enough for three," then started to gush Momoi's praises.

Aomine tried not to look as unenthusiastic as he felt, but he could already feel a slight frown forming and his eyes glazing over as he tried to tune Kise out.

"Actually, I just... came over to get something I left here," Aomine lied. It was probably unconvincing, but at this point he didn't care. "So I'll just grab it and go."

Kise gave him an odd, almost quizzical look.

"Well, you're invited to dinner now. You're not busy, right? I bet Sora will be so happy if you play with him while Momo-chan cooks."

It sounded suspiciously like Kise was manipulating him into staying, but when Aomine gave him a dubious look, Kise was staring at him with wide, sincere eyes and a guileless expression.

"Alright." He couldn't help giving in, even if he was pretty sure Kise was, as usual, being a conniving brat.

"Aomine!" Momoi beamed when he made his way over to them, and Sora dropped his toy, losing interest in it to direct a sunny smile up in Aomine's direction.

"Ba!" He beamed, and Aomine felt his spirits lifting already as he slid cross-legged on to the ground next to the two of them.

"Ba," he repeated, grabbing the toy from where it had dropped and holding it up for Sora to grab again.

When it became obvious that Aomine had completely stolen Sora's attention away from her, Momoi chuckled and got up to start dinner.

"Your son has no taste," she told Kise, motioning over to him and Aomine, but the friendly jab carried no heat – half because it was Momoi and she never meant anything maliciously, but half because Sora _had_ chosen Aomine over her, and after that, none of Momoi's friendly teasing could bother him at all.

Momoi ended up leaving before Aomine did in the end. He stayed behind, clearing the table and doing the dishes for Kise while he spent some time with Sora. Despite the rocky start to his evening, there was nothing that made him smile quite like walking out into the living room to see Kise with Sora in his lap, flapping his arms and cheerfully telling him, "Now we're butterflies!"

"Cutest butterfly I've ever seen." Aomine flopped down onto the nearest couch, and Kise grinned over at him, batting his eyelashes.

"Thanks."

"I was talking about the tiny one."

"Aominecchi, you're horrible." Kise attempted to sound offended, but the chuckle he didn't quite manage to smother ruined the effect. He was silent for a moment, before smiling somewhat slyly. "Sora really likes Momo-chan."

Aomine sat up a little straighter, attempting to keep his face neutral. "Ah."

"But... you can keep a secret, right?" He leant back against the leg of the sofa and lowered his voice to an exaggerated whisper. "I think he likes you best."

"Best?" Aomine felt his ears burning hot.

"Well. Not as much as me," Kise clarified. "But definitely second best."

"Ah," Aomine repeated, and ducked his head, unsure of why he felt so embarrassed.

He let it turn over in his head as he drove home from Kise's, after he'd helped put Sora down to sleep for the night. Obviously Kise had noticed his reaction to Momoi's presence in the apartment and his frustration over Momoi's monopolisation of the baby's time and had felt the need to reassure him of his importance. But that made Aomine feel weird; Sora wasn't his, and he certainly didn't have a say in how much time Momoi spent with him. It was probably good for Sora to be exposed to new people, and even if Kise could get on fine without the help of another extra person, it still made his life easier.

He probably resented having to share Sora when he'd been his and Kise's secret for so long, Aomine figured. After all, he'd never really liked sharing.  
He wondered if he was getting too weird about Kise's kid, and spent a moment considering whether maybe he should cut back on his visits. After all, he and Kise had never spent this much time together before Sora's arrival (though at least now that the secret was out, his parents actually believed him when he said he was going over there to visit) and now that the baby was five months old and Kise had gotten the hang of taking care of him, he didn't need to rely on Aomine as much anymore.

But the thought of deliberately separating himself from the two of them just wasn't appealing, and Aomine was pretty sure that Sora wouldn't like it, which meant that Kise, by default, wouldn't like it either. Besides, it was fascinating to see how much a baby developed over a single week. He'd just started to recognise and respond to his own name, and was getting closer and closer to being able to sit up without any help, and Aomine was damned if he was going to miss that happening.  
He reassured himself that at least his presence gave Kise a chance to step outside and take a break for a while, so it wasn't entirely for his own benefit.

Taking care of Sora in Kise's absence was much easier for Aomine now, and so when he was over one afternoon and Kise said that he needed to nip down to the store, Aomine didn't bat an eyelid.

"Okay." He and Sora were already occupied with a rattle, so intensely focused that neither of them looked at Kise when he went to leave.

"Sometimes I wonder if you like his toys more than he does," Kise called over his shoulder as he headed out of the room.

Aomine ignored him, but couldn't deny that it was probably true when Sora tired of the rattle before he did, directing his interest to Aomine's fingers and shirt sleeve instead and giving them a good tug.

"Hey." Aomine chuckled, pulling his hand away. "Gentle."

He tickled Sora in revenge, delighting in the way laughter bubbled up from his throat. He'd started giggling weeks ago, but the full belly-laugh that erupted when Aomine tickled his feet, the one that was so reminiscent of his father's, was something that he didn't think he'd ever tire of hearing.

He didn't notice when Kise got back until he heard him sit down behind him, finally ending his assault on the soles of Sora's feet to turn around and acknowledge him. His eyes were soft as he watched them and the smile on his face was unguarded and tender. Aomine couldn't help offering a small one of his own in return, stomach flip-flopping.

That was about the time things started to change.  
There had been a time during their teens when Aomine and Kise had been closer than they were for most of there friendship. During that time, Kise had stuck to Aomine like a little shadow until he'd gained enough confidence and finally branched out on his own. Now they were back to being almost inseparable thanks to Sora's arrival, finding a common interest in him. Aomine found the subtle changes in Kise, with his newfound maturity and sense of responsibility, to be quite likeable, and although he'd always been fond of him he'd grown to see him in a new light and appreciate his companionship in new ways.

It was around then that Aomine started looking forward to seeing Kise as much as he did to seeing Sora, sometimes staying so late into the night to chat once Sora was asleep that they'd doze off on the couch together. Aomine didn't, however, start seeing the anticipation of being with Kise for what it was until the evening when Kise fell asleep on his shoulder. He looked so content and tranquil in slumber, as though he didn't have a care in the world, and Aomine caught himself leaning in to kiss his forehead before he even realised the urge had crossed his mind.  
Kise smelt like a combination of vanilla shampoo and lavender-scented cologne, and Aomine had to fight the urge to bury his face in his hair and breathe in, forcing himself to pull back.

It was less of an abrupt change or sudden realisation, and more like a light coming on in a dark room that, until then, he'd been blindly feeling his way around. Everything had already been there, all laid out in his head, but until that moment he hadn't been able to see it with such clarity.  
Aomine sat very still, listening to Kise's even breathing, and the hum of the refrigerator coming from the next room.

It explained the intensity of his possessiveness whenever somebody else tried to lay claim to Sora and, by association, to Kise; was perhaps the reason for the feeling of serenity and togetherness he experienced whenever he was alone with the two of them.  
They were already a bit like a family and perhaps that was where the feelings had sprung from. Aomine wasn't sure, and it was hard to think clearly with Kise's soft cheek pillowed against his shoulder, or the warmth of his body so close by. He needed his own space, his own room, to go over his thoughts.

"Kise." He jostled his friend gently, trying not to pay attention to the adorable way his eyelashes fluttered as he came awake.

"What's it?" He asked around a yawn.

"It's late," Aomine nudged him upright and off his shoulder. "I'd better go."

Kise let him up without any fuss, taking over the sofa once Aomine vacated it and stretching out.

"Goodnight Aominecchi..." He offered Aomine a sleepy not-all-there smile, and when the urge to carry him to his bed and tuck him in hit, Aomine knew he needed to do a runner.

"Don't fall asleep there," he warned him, knowing full well Kise wouldn't heed his advice. "I'll see you later."

* * *

After giving it a bit of thought, Aomine decided that Kise was probably the worst person he'd ever fallen for; worse than falling for his pretty best friend, or the girlfriend of the most popular guy in high school. He also knew that, like those previous crushes, it was impossible to fight. He was as stubborn as anything, but he'd never been a master of self control when it came to matters of the heart.

As he lay in bed, staring blankly into the dark, Aomine decided he wouldn't tell anyone about these newly discovered feelings, much less Kise. He'd force himself to act like nothing was different, and then maybe things would go back to normal by themselves if given time.

Acting normally turned out to be significantly harder than Aomine had originally anticipated, though. Now that he knew he felt something for Kise, his heart melted whenever he saw him holding his sleeping son, or saw him sprawled out on his stomach playing with Sora and his toys, or when he stroked the baby's fine, blond hair and cooed to him about how much it had grown... in fact, Aomine found himself with an almost constant case of butterflies in his stomach and a pounding heart.

One would think he'd get a break during Sora's naps when Kise was baby-free, but no. Those were the times when Kise lay around in his boxers and loose tank tops, sprawled on the sofa, stretched out to his full extent. With a baby around, dressing fashionably had taken a backseat to dressing comfortably, but Aomine, for some unfathomable reason, found the expanse of skin his lying-around clothes left exposed to be far more alluring than his tight designer jeans and form-fitting shirts. And those moments were worse, because at least when Sora was there, Aomine's feelings for Kise were limited to pure, innocent affection; the desire to take care of him, to be a second father to Sora, to be a family.

But when Sora was out of the room, asleep, and it was just the two of them… well. His feelings certainly took a turn for the more adult. Having a baby there kept everything wholesome, but the moment he wasn't, suddenly Kise's exposed throat was just asking to be kissed, the sliver of stomach from when his shirt rode up was unbearably erotic, his loose clothes were begging to be removed...  
Aomine was a little horrified by himself. Sure, he was a guy, and all guys had needs, they just weren't supposed to have those needs with _Kise_. But god, he wanted him in almost every sense of the word, mind, body and soul.

He started to have dreams, of his and Kise's sweat-slick limbs tangled together, Kise kissing his face and panting in his ear to be careful not to wake Sora before hushing him with his mouth. He dreamed of the two of them skin on skin, Kise's voice low, breathless, hands hungry to explore every inch of bare flesh they came across. He always woke with his body tingling and heart hammering and, sometimes, on the nights he was overwhelmed by helplessness, he'd cry himself back to sleep in frustration, because he'd never realised it was possible to like, to _want_ someone _so much_, and the feelings had nowhere to go.

* * *

**A/N:** Chapter two out of the way. One more chapter left, guys! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I know a lot was going on; Sorry! Please leave a nice little review for me, you hear? I live and breathe off of those things. Flames will be used to roast the rotting carcasses of pigs! Anyway, the next update will be posted on my profile so if you ever get curious to when the next update will occur—feel free to check there! Thanks for reading!

**Read, Review and Move On!**


	3. III

**Title: Reinventing the World **

**Author's Note**: Wow! I'm so glad everyone has enjoyed this story and has supported my writing. Thanks so much! Sorry for the delay, I went on vacation (I really needed one) and, I'm still sort of on Vay-Cay right now but since I love you guys so much, I decided to update with the final installment. Careful, maybe there will be grammar mistakes ahead! Please, enjoy!

⇒_**Please make sure you heed the bolded font. Especially the are there for a reason.**_

**Pairing**: Aomine/Kise

**Rating**: T/PG-13

**Warnings**: AU, OoC, Fluff; This is _not_ m-preg.

**Summary**: When Kise had gone to bed last night, he hadn't had a son, and by the time Aomine had turned up at his door today at noon, he did.

* * *

**Disclaimer**:

Kuroko no Basuke does not belong to me. All rights belong to Fujimaki-sensei.

* * *

A month passed, and though he learned to deal with his feelings better, they didn't diminish any. In a way, he found it was better to be with Kise rather than away from him, because when they were together, at least Aomine wasn't thinking about him to the point of distraction.  
Basketball wasn't helping either; it proved to be very troublesome when – in the absence of Kise , his participation in Generation of Miracles' activities and his part in that drama he'd be working so hard to be in – another actor was given a supporting drama role as, irony of ironies, a kindergarten teacher in love with the single, widowed mother of one of the children.  
All in all, it was a pretty dumb drama, but the thought of Kise being around cute little kids all day, wondering which of them Sora would grow up to be most like, didn't do anything to curb his Aomine's paternal urges as he stood by off set and watched. If Kise hadn't begged him to come and watch the recording sessions in his place, he probably wouldn't have given it a second thought.

When one of the tiny three-year-old girls drew his portrait and presented it to him as a present, Aomine accepted it like it was a great treasure, suddenly unable to wait for the day when Sora would be old enough to put pen to paper. He was old enough to sit in a high chair now, and though he wasn't crawling yet, he'd begun rolling from one place to another, forcing Kise to start baby-proofing his apartment. He was growing up so fast, it made Aomine's heart ache.  
Kise was far less sentimental about the whole thing. He was mostly just excited; chattering on to Aomine about Sora's latest development, and his utter determination to smack the spoon out of Kise's hand every time he tried to feed him now that he'd started on solids alongside his formula.

"I think he wants to hold it himself," he explained, eyes shining with pride as another spoonful of mashed carrot splattered on the floor and Sora laughed his little head off. "You'll be so independent when you're older, won't you, Sora?"

He _already_ seemed independent to Aomine – when he'd arrived three and a half months ago, he hadn't been able to do anything, and now he was already six months old, moving around by himself, sitting up, practising sounds…  
He was suddenly glad that he'd been there to see it all happen, and hoped that Kise would let him be there to see the rest.

* * *

Over the next four months, Sora started crawling and teething, and Kise spent a lot of time tickling him to make him laugh and see if he could get a glimpse of his first baby teeth. They knew they were there, because Aomine had unwittingly let his finger end up in Sora's mouth and found out about them firsthand.

Kise was finally off his unofficial hiatus, and his promotion activities had been rescheduled for release in the following month. Fortunately, Sora's separation anxiety seemed to have settled by that point, so at least Kise would be able to leave the apartment for a while to do promotional activities. No one wanted his re-entrance into the entertainment world to be a total flop because no one knew about it.

Mostly though, their routine hadn't changed. Aomine spent several evenings a week over at Kise's, spending time with him and the rapidly growing baby, the two of them encouraging Sora's attempts to walk using the furniture and responding to his incomprehensible gibberish as though it were real words. As they had for several months gone, they'd feed and bathe him together, put him to bed, then hang out and chat while Aomine spent the whole time repeating 'I love you I love you I love you' in his head over and over, because he couldn't say it out loud.

Sora had always been happy to see Aomine when he came over, but recently he'd begun to get more vocal about it, squealing in excitement and crawling over to the door, or squirming in Kise's arms the moment he heard Aomine's voice.

Tonight was no different; Aomine let himself in and announced his presence, which was followed by a screech of delight from Sora and a greeting from Kise.

"Daddy's home," Kise trilled when Aomine stepped into the lounge, and Aomine froze, blood shooting to his face and painting his cheeks a faint scarlet.

"Hey." He tried to hide his embarrassment behind a serious expression, wishing it didn't make his heart pound so ridiculously hard each time Kise called him that. The problem was that he'd learned how much it flustered Aomine, and now he wouldn't stop. "If I'm daddy, that makes you his mother."

"I'm okay with that," Kise replied vaguely as Sora struggled in his arms. "Okay, okay. You can go to mouldy Aominecchi. Ryouta boring. I get it."

There was no jealousy in his voice though, his and Sora's grins equally bright as Aomine took the 10 month old baby in his arms. They looked more and more like each other with each week that passed, Aomine thought. He was kind of glad he'd never met the mother, leaving him unable to identify which features Sora had inherited from her.

"He really has your eyes," Aomine said before he could stop himself. He felt a bit dumb for saying it, but it was true; they'd developed into the same golden honey-coloured eyes as Kise's, a couple of shades lighter than his father.

Kise looked at him curiously for a moment, then at his son and smiled.

"Yeah?" He reached out to stroke one chubby cheek, and was rewarded with a gummy grin. "Maybe you'll grow up to look just like daddy."

He'd be lucky if he did, Aomine thought, another light blush threatening to form on his cheeks. That had sounded pretty pathetic, even in his own mind.

"Like a clone?" He said aloud, in an effort to come up with something that sounded less love struck.

Kise just snorted in reply, raising one eyebrow slightly, but mostly ignoring it. He'd long since learned to take everything about Aomine in stride, including his odd comments.

"You know," he said eventually, once Aomine had put Sora down to play with him. "It really is like you're his daddy."

Aomine focused intently on rolling the ball to Sora. "You're his daddy though."

"I know." Kise said as he got up, presumably to start dinner. Then, "But you're like his daddy too."

Aomine squeezed his eyes shut and leant back against the wall. He wasn't sure how he should feel about that.

* * *

Sora had been able to say "Papa" for quite some time now, and over the months it had quickly become his favourite word. It got results, and he knew it. It only took one wide-eyed "Papa!" and a big smile, and Kise would fall over himself to do anything for his son. At first Aomine had laughed, because now Kise finally knew what it felt like to be wrapped around someone's little finger. Eventually, though, he grudgingly admitted that if it had been him in that situation, it would've gotten a similar reaction. Secretly, he sometimes wished it was.

It was about a month before Sora's first birthday that Aomine got his wish – well, almost. He was standing in the kitchen, chopping spring onions, when he heard the familiar sound of shuffling and little hands slapping against the linoleum that meant Sora had made his way in the room.

Aomine put down the knife and twisted his head to smile down at the baby. "Hello, Sora! What are you doing?"

"Bababa," Sora said earnestly, as though he was making complete sense, and Aomine couldn't help but grin.

"I see. Well, I have to finish dinner," he explained. "But I'll play soon."

He turned back to the spring onions, only to be interrupted by something he'd never heard from Sora's mouth before.

"Mama!"

Aomine froze, knife in hand, thinking that maybe he hadn't heard right.

"Mama! Mama!"

Eyes wide and mouth dropping, Aomine turned to stare down at the baby in horror. Sora just looked back up at him, a picture of innocence, pleased he'd gotten his attention.

"Ba!"

Aomine swallowed, took a deep breath, then yelled, somewhat high-pitched and hysterical, "Kise!"

In the past, Kise had sometimes taken quite a while to react when someone called his name, but ever since Sora had arrived, he'd started to respond immediately.

"Is everything okay?" He popped his head around the door, looking noticeably calmer once he saw that both Aomine and Sora were in there, and that they were just fine.

"Your… he's…" Aomine scrambled for words, indignant and a little embarrassed. "I am _not_."

"Huh?" Kise blinked and cocked his head. "Not what?"

"He just. He called me mama. I'm not his mama, Kise! Who taught him that?"

Kise's brow creased before he knelt down next to Sora, getting his attention.

"Aominecchi is mama?" He asked, pointing at Aomine, to which Sora enthusiastically responded with, "Mama!"

There was a brief pause before Kise started to laugh, and as much as Aomine wanted to be mad at him for finding this funny, he couldn't really blame him. Besides, there was nothing that made him quite as heart-warming as Kise's pure, genuine laughter.

"He's not… he's not…" Kise struggled to form words as he wiped tears from his eyes. "He's trying to say your _name_, Aominecchi."

It took Aomine a few moments to understand what Kise meant, and suddenly 'mama' felt like the best thing he'd ever been called.

* * *

Kise spent a crazy amount of money on Sora's first birthday considering that the only people he invited were ones that his son was familiar with, so as not to alarm him. The custom made dog shaped cake was a cute touch though – Sora really liked dogs, especially Pacchi (A playmate Kise had broken down and bought just for Sora), and enjoyed following him around the apartment and pulling his fur – and considering how much Aomine had spent on his birthday present, he couldn't really say anything.

It was a fun party. Kise let Aomine feed Sora some cake, most of which ended up on the floor. He didn't even mind sharing him with other people, especially when he sought out Aomine's attention on his own, despite Momoi's attempts to steal him away.

The apartment was a mess by the time it was over, with dishes on every surface and toys and wrapping paper scattered all over the floor, but Kise couldn't keep the grin off his face and Sora seemed pretty enthralled with his new toy telephone. He kept dragging it over to Aomine and forcing him to put it to his ear and talk on it. When Aomine tried to get Sora to do the same, he just bashed the receiver against the floor and laughed at the noise it made.

Once the last guest had left, Kise began to prepare himself for the mental battle of tidying his home, and Aomine immediately jumped in to aid him.

"I'll help clean up," he offered, and Kise, being Kise, didn't reject his help.

They got about halfway through before it was time to put Sora to bed, and by the time they were done with his nightly routine, the two of them were about ready to collapse as well.

"I'll finish tomorrow," Kise said, flopping down onto his bed and cuddling up against the pillows.

He looked absolutely adorable, and Aomine felt his stomach twist into a knot. He stood awkwardly in the doorway, trying not to stare at the way Kise's hair fell into his eyes, or how his position emphasised the curve of his ass.

"I could finish off for you," he suggested, mostly just looking for an excuse to get out of the room before he did or said something dumb.

"Mm, nah." Kise stretched, and even the way he yawned was unbearably cute. "Stay and keep me company."

He patted the bed next to him in invitation, and the knot in Aomine's stomach pulled tighter, even as his feet walked of their own accord to do as Kise asked.

"I can't believe he's already a year old," Kise rolled onto his side and propped his head up in his hand. "He'll be walking and talking and going to school before we know it."

The way he said it made Aomine feel like Sora was their child instead of just Kise's. A lump formed in his throat, but he couldn't swallow, worried Kise would hear it and somehow figure out exactly how nervous he was feeling.

"What are you thinking about?" Kise wiggled closer, sliding a hand up Aomine's arm. "You don't usually look so serious."

"Ah." Aomine forced a grin. "No, yeah, that uh. He is growing up quickly. It's been nine months since his mom left him with you, right?"

"Mm." Kise didn't remove his hand. "Nine months. And you were there from the start."

The look on his face was hard to interpret, but somehow it still sent Aomine's heart into a frenzy. He licked his lips, trying to force his face to remain impassive as Kise's head came to rest on his shoulder.

"It's... well, I'm glad I was. I mean. It was good to watch him grow up."

"Yeah." Kise's voice was barely above a whisper, fingers sneaking down Aomine's wrist until their hands were palm to palm. He linked their fingers together, and squeezed softly, then didn't let go. "I'm glad you were too."

"Kise..." Aomine managed out the syllables of his name, before Kise's other hand threaded through his hair, and Aomine was tongue tied again.

"My mother still thinks I should find him a mama, but I don't think Sora could've had a better family than the one you and I gave him," Kise murmured, stroking Aomine's hair.

Aomine exhaled softly, heart full enough to burst, and the words just slipped out. "I love you."

It was over before he could stop himself, but Kise didn't leave him hanging for long. He cuddled closer, laying his head on Aomine's chest, arms falling to slide around his waist. It took Aomine a moment to summon the courage to return the motion, holding his breath as he wrapped his arm around Kise and pulled him closer.

They were both silent as they held each other, until Aomine cleared his throat.

"You could say it back to me, you know."

Kise chuckled. "Of course I love you. How could I not love my baby's papa?"

Aomine blinked back what felt suspiciously like tears. "I think I need to kiss you now."

"Yeah." Kise lifted his head, nose brushing against Aomine's chin and breath warm against his cheek. "I think that would be nice."

* * *

Though Aomine had been spending a good portion of his time at Kise's, that night was the first time that he slept over. They fell asleep in their clothes under the covers, wrapped up in each other, and when they woke up to Sora crying for Kise the next morning, they shared a sleepy smile and a good morning kiss before climbing out of bed.

He had practice that day, but Aomine couldn't stand the thought of being away for long, and came back straight afterwards to make dinner. Kise spent the whole time attached to his back, loosely embracing him with his head on his shoulder, pressing occasional kisses to Aomine's neck each time he complained that Kise was distracting him.

Sora woke up from his evening nap just before it was time for dinner, and they sat him in his high chair, listening to him babbling away in baby speak as they ate.  
Afterwards, the three of them crowded onto the couch together, Kise with Sora and a storybook in his lap, and Aomine with his arm around Kise's middle, holding him close and nestling their cheeks together as he listened to him read.

Sora fell asleep in Kise's arms part way through the story, tiny head slumping against his stomach. Kise giggled, murmuring something about it having been a long day, before turning his head to catch Aomine's lips in a kiss. Aomine melted into it, heart skipping, and when Kise rested his head against Aomine's, it felt like they were a family.

They put Sora to bed together shortly after; Kise placed him in his crib, kissing him goodnight, and Aomine tucked the blankets around him, stroking his hair gently and feeling like a real father.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks again to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story! I'm sorry to see this end so soon but I'm possibly going to do a little short fic about Sora's growing up life with Aomine and Kise as his parents. Sometime in the near future I hope. I do have other projects to finish. Leave me a nice little review here and see you next story! Be on the lookout for something new real soon!

**Read, Review and Move On!**


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